A negative electrode used for a lithium ion secondary battery is mainly and typically configured of a negative electrode active material layer and a current collector. The negative electrode active material layer is obtained by coating the surface of the current collector such as copper foil with a paste for production of a negative electrode that includes a negative electrode active material, a thickening agent, and an aqueous binder and then drying the surface.
As a method of producing a negative electrode for a lithium ion secondary battery, the method described in Patent Document 1 is exemplified.
Patent Document 1 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2013-93240) describes a method of producing an electrode, including a powder mixing process (1) of mixing thickening agent powder and electrode active material powder; a kneading process (2) of kneading a powder mixture obtained from the powder mixing process and water; a thickening agent aqueous solution mixing process (3) of mixing the kneaded material obtained from the kneaded process and a thickening agent aqueous solution to obtain a paste for forming an electrode active material layer; and a process (4) of applying the paste for forming an electrode active material layer to an electrode current collector to form an electrode active material layer on the current collector.
Patent Document 1 describes that a secondary battery which has lower battery resistance and excellent durability and from which an electrode active material layer is unlikely to be peeled off can be provided by means of using the method of producing an electrode which includes the above-described processes (1) to (4).